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VANCOUVER — Joannie Rochette, the figure skater who captured the hearts of the nation with her bronze-medal performance in the grief-stricken days following the death of her mother, carried the Canadian flag into the closing ceremony on Sunday night.

The smiling Rochette waved to the adoring crowd as a huge contingent of the 206-member Canadian team, 86 of whom won a medal during the 2010 Winter Games, marched into the stadium, forming a circle with athletes from 81 other countries around the lit cauldron.

Some of the homegrown athletes carried their own Canadian flags, and ski cross gold medallist Ashleigh McIvor sported a maple leaf tattoo on her cheek.

Cheryl Bernard’s curling team looked thrilled with their silver medals, showing them off proudly to the boisterous crowd, two days after the disappointment of losing the gold-medal match.

The Canadian Olympic Committee revealed Rochette would carry the flag into BC Place Stadium during a news conference Sunday morning.

Rochette told reporters she was thrilled to be given such an honour, but surprised when the COC approached her because a record number of Canadians had won gold during the Games and, in doing so, rewrote Olympic history.

Nonetheless, Rochette was happy and gracious.

“I thought, ‘Why me?’” she said, smiling shyly. “This is such a big honour because during this whole Olympic experience I’ve been carried by so many Canadians.”

Rochette’s mother Therese, 55, died of a heart attack on Feb. 21, shortly after arriving in Vancouver to see her daughter compete in the women’s figure skating event. Despite being an only child who was extremely close to her mother, Rochette decided to continue to compete and, against the odds, reached the podium.

It has been a week of incredible highs and lows for the 24-year-old woman from tiny Ile Dupas, Que.

“A lot of things happened this week that made me cry,” she said in French.

She then added in English: “It has been a tough week for me but I am going to walk into that stadium in celebration of how great Canada was at the Games … I want to walk into that stadium with a big smile on my face because I’m proud of my skating.”

And that is exactly what she did to the delight of 60,000 spectators, most of whom were on their feet cheering as the Canadian team walked to centre-stage wearing the popular knit Canadian sweaters.

Rochette said she wanted to thank her fellow athletes for their friendship, her many fans for all their e-mails and messages, and the COC for its support, noting the organization didn’t put pressure on her to perform but allowed her to make the decision.

“What I can tell you about the Canadian team is that it is the most closely knit team there is at the Olympics and I could really witness that because I could not be here without my teammates, without their support, without all the help I got,” she said.

Nathalie Lambert, the COC’s chef de mission for the Games, said Rochette was chosen because she touched the entire country and inspired other athletes with her gutsy and emotional performance.

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